Contents

February – The death of King Charles II of England results in one of the major theatrical flops of the Restoration era: Albion and Albanius — an allegorical drama in praise of the late king, with text by John Dryden and music by Louis Grabu — is in rehearsals at the time.

June – A revised version of Albion and Albanius fails, largely because it coincides with the Duke of Monmouth's invasion.

June – Parliament revives the Printing Act of 1662, limiting London printers.

1.
1680s in architecture
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1680 St Clement Danes, London, designed by Christopher Wren, is completed. Church of San Lorenzo, Turin, designed by Guarino Guarini, is substantially completed,1681 Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, designed by Baldassare Longhena in 1631, is dedicated. Sobieski Royal Chapel in Gdańsk, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is completed, Old Ship Church Puritan meeting house in Hingham, Massachusetts, which will become the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States, is erected. Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Aragon, is begun to the design of Francisco Herrera the Younger,1682 Abingdon County Hall in Oxfordshire, England, designed by Christopher Kempster, is completed. Tom Tower at Christ Church, Oxford, England, designed by Christopher Wren, is completed, khan al-Wazir in Aleppo is completed. 1683 The Old Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, designed by Christopher Wren, is completed, ragley Hall in Warwickshire, England, designed by Robert Hooke, is completed. Château de Dampierre in France, designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart, is completed, Église Saint-Thomas-dAquin, designed by Pierre Bullet, is consecrated. 1684 The Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, Ireland, designed by William Robinson, is completed as a home for retired soldiers, the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France, designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart, is completed. The Château de Marly in the Marly-le-Roi commune is completed for Louis XIV, the Canal de lEure with its notable aqueduct, designed by the military engineer Lieutenant Général Vauban to serve Versailles for Louis XIV, is begun, work is abandoned about 1690. Middle Temple gateway, Fleet Street, London, designed by Roger North, is completed,1686 The Het Loo Palace at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, designed by Jacob Roman and Johan van Swieten and begun in 1684, is completed, the garden is designed by Claude Desgotz. 1687 Neanderkirche in Düsseldorf is completed, the rebuilding of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England, begins under William Talman. The Parthenon in Athens is extensively damaged in the Morean War,1688 Friends meeting house at Jordans, Buckinghamshire, England. 1689 Windsor Guildhall in Berkshire, England, designed by Sir Thomas Fitz, is completed by Christopher Wren, bieliński Palace in Otwock Wielki, Poland, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is completed. Lubomirski bathing pavilion at Łazienki Palace, Warsaw, Poland, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is completed,1682 - James Gibbs 1682 - William Benson 1683 - Thomas Ripley 1684 - William Adam c

2.
Charles II of England
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Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married

3.
John Dryden
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John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Englands first Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him Glorious John, Dryden was born in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire, where his maternal grandfather was rector of All Saints. He was a cousin once removed of Jonathan Swift. As a boy Dryden lived in the village of Titchmarsh. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a Kings Scholar where his headmaster was Dr. Richard Busby, having recently been re-founded by Elizabeth I, Westminster during this period embraced a very different religious and political spirit encouraging royalism and high Anglicanism. Whatever Drydens response to this was, he respected the headmaster. As a humanist public school, Westminster maintained a curriculum which trained pupils in the art of rhetoric and this is a skill which would remain with Dryden and influence his later writing and thinking, as much of it displays these dialectical patterns. The Westminster curriculum included weekly translation assignments which developed Drydens capacity for assimilation and this was also to be exhibited in his later works. Busby had first prayed for the King and then locked in his schoolboys to prevent their attending the spectacle, in 1650 Dryden went up to Trinity College, Cambridge. Though there is specific information on Drydens undergraduate years, he would most certainly have followed the standard curriculum of classics, rhetoric. In 1654 he obtained his BA, graduating top of the list for Trinity that year, in June of the same year Drydens father died, leaving him some land which generated a little income, but not enough to live on. Returning to London during the Protectorate, Dryden obtained work with Cromwells Secretary of State and this appointment may have been the result of influence exercised on his behalf by his cousin the Lord Chamberlain, Sir Gilbert Pickering. At Cromwells funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden processed with the Puritan poets John Milton, shortly thereafter he published his first important poem, Heroic Stanzas, a eulogy on Cromwells death which is cautious and prudent in its emotional display. In 1660 Dryden celebrated the Restoration of the monarchy and the return of Charles II with Astraea Redux, in this work the interregnum is illustrated as a time of anarchy, and Charles is seen as the restorer of peace and order. After the Restoration, as Dryden quickly established himself as the poet and literary critic of his day. Along with Astraea Redux, Dryden welcomed the new regime with two more panegyrics, To His Sacred Majesty, A Panegyric on his Coronation and To My Lord Chancellor and these, and his other nondramatic poems, are occasional—that is, they celebrate public events. Thus they are written for the rather than the self

4.
Aphra Behn
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Aphra Behn was a British playwright, poet, translator and fiction writer from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers, rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London and a brief stay in debtors prison. She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot and she wrote under the pastoral pseudonym Astrea. A staunch supporter of the Stuart line, she declined an invitation from Bishop Burnet to write a poem to the new king William III. Her grave is not included in the Poets Corner but lies in the East Cloister near the steps to the church, information regarding Behns life is scant, especially regarding her early years. This may be due to intentional obscuring on Behns part, one version of Behns life tells that she was born to a barber named John Amis and his wife Amy. Another story has Behn born to a couple named Cooper, the Histories And Novels of the Late Ingenious Mrs. Behn states that Behn was born to Bartholomew Johnson, a barber, and Elizabeth Denham, a wet-nurse. Another contemporary, Anne Finch, wrote that Behn was born in Wye in Kent, in some accounts the profile of her father fits Eaffrey Johnson. Behn was born during the buildup of the English Civil War, one version of Behns story has her travelling with Bartholomew Johnson to Surinam. He was said to die on the journey, with his wife and children spending some months in the country, during this trip Behn said she met an African slave leader, whose story formed the basis for one of her most famous works, Oroonoko. It is possible that she acted a spy in the colony, there is little verifiable evidence to confirm any one story. In Oroonoko Behn gives herself the position of narrator and her first biographer accepted the assumption that Behn was the daughter of the lieutenant general of Surinam, there is little evidence that this was the case, and none of her contemporaries acknowledge any aristocratic status. There is also no evidence that Oroonoko existed as a person or that any such slave revolt, as is featured in the story. She is not so much a woman to be unmasked as a combination of masks. It is notable that her name is not mentioned in tax or church records, during her lifetime she was also known as Ann Behn, Mrs Bean, agent 160 and Astrea. Shortly after her return to England from Surinam in 1664. He may have been a merchant of German or Dutch extraction and he died or the couple separated soon after 1664, however from this point the writer used the moniker Mrs Behn as her professional name

5.
George Berkeley
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George Berkeley — known as Bishop Berkeley — was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called immaterialism. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism, in this book, Berkeleys views were represented by Philonous, while Hylas embodies the Irish thinkers opponents, in particular John Locke. Berkeley argued against Sir Isaac Newtons doctrine of space, time and motion in De Motu. His arguments were a precursor to the views of Mach and Einstein and his last major philosophical work, Siris, begins by advocating the medicinal use of tar water and then continues to discuss a wide range of topics, including science, philosophy, and theology. Berkeley was born at his home, Dysart Castle, near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, the eldest son of William Berkeley. He was educated at Kilkenny College and attended Trinity College, Dublin, earning a degree in 1704. He remained at Trinity College after completion of his degree as a tutor and his earliest publication was on mathematics, but the first that brought him notice was his An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, first published in 1709. In the essay, Berkeley examines visual distance, magnitude, position and problems of sight, while this work raised much controversy at the time, its conclusions are now accepted as an established part of the theory of optics. For this theory, the Principles gives the exposition and the Dialogues the defence, one of his main objectives was to combat the prevailing materialism of his time. Shortly afterwards, Berkeley visited England and was received into the circle of Addison, Pope and Steele. In 1721, he took Holy Orders in the Church of Ireland, earning his doctorate in divinity, in 1721/2 he was made Dean of Dromore and, in 1724, Dean of Derry. Swift said generously that he did not grudge Berkeley his inheritance, a story that Berkeley and Marshall disregarded a condition of the inheritance that they must publish the correspondence between Swift and Vanessa is probably untrue. In 1725, he began the project of founding a college in Bermuda for training ministers and missionaries in the colony, in 1728, he married Anne Forster, daughter of John Forster, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. He then went to America on a salary of £100 per annum and he landed near Newport, Rhode Island, where he bought a plantation at Middletown – the famous Whitehall. It has been claimed that he introduced Palladianism into America by borrowing a design from Kents Designs of Inigo Jones for the door-case of his house in Rhode Island, Whitehall. He also brought to New England John Smibert, the British artist he discovered in Italy, meanwhile, he drew up plans for the ideal city he planned to build on Bermuda. He lived at the plantation while he waited for funds for his college to arrive, the funds, however, were not forthcoming, and in 1732 he left America and returned to London. While living in Londons Saville Street, he took part in efforts to create a home for the abandoned children

6.
Anne Killigrew
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Anne Killigrew was an English poet. Born in London, Killigrew is perhaps best known as the subject of an elegy by the poet John Dryden entitled To The Pious Memory of the Accomplishd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew. She was however a skilful poet in her own right, Dryden compared her poetic abilities to the famous Greek poet of antiquity, Sappho. Killigrew died of smallpox aged 25, Anne Killigrew was born in early 1660, before the Restoration, at St. Martins Lane in London. Not much is known about her mother Judith Killigrew, but her father Dr. Henry Killigrew published several sermons and her two paternal uncles were also published playwrights. Sir William Killigrew published two collections of plays and Thomas Killigrew not only plays but built the theatre now known as Drury Lane. Her father and her uncles had close connections with the Stuart Court, serving Charles I, Charles II, Anne was made a personal attendant, before her death, to Mary of Modena, Duchess of York. Little is recorded about Anne’s education, but it is known that she kept up with her social class and her theatrical background added to her use of shifting voices in her poetry. In John Dryden’s Ode To the Pious Memory of the young lady, Mrs. Anne Killigrew, he points out that Art she had none, yet wanted none. Killigrew most likely got her education through studying the Bible, Greek mythology, mythology was often expressed throughout her paintings and poetry. Mary of Modena encouraged the French tradition of precieuses which pressed women’s participation in theatre, literature, with this motivation came a short book of only thirty-three poems published soon after her death by her father. It was not abnormal for poets, especially for women, never to see their work published in their lifetime, since Killigrew died at the young age of 25 she was only able to produce a small collection of poetry. In fact, the last three poems were found among her papers and it is still being debated about whether or not they were actually written by her. Inside the book is also a painted portrait of Anne. Anne Killigrew excelled in multiple media, which was noted by contemporary poet, mentor and he addresses her as the Accomplisht Young LADY Mrs Anne Killigrew, Excellent in the two Sister-Arts of Poësie, and Painting. Scholars believe that Kelligrew painted a total of 15 paintings, however, many of her paintings display biblical and mythological imagery. Yet, Killigrew was also skilled at portraits, and her works include a self-portrait and a portrait of James, Duke of York. Some of her poetry references her own paintings, such as her poem On a Picture Painted by her self, both her poems and her paintings place emphasis on women and nature, suggesting female rebellion in a male-dominated society

7.
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth
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James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch, KG, PC was an English nobleman. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and he served in the Second Anglo-Dutch War and commanded English troops taking part in the Third Anglo-Dutch War before commanding the Anglo-Dutch brigade fighting in the Franco-Dutch War. In 1685 he led the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion, an attempt to depose his uncle, the rebellion failed, and Monmouth was beheaded for treason on 15 July 1685. Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, to Lucy Walter, and her lover, Charles II, when the child grew to manhood, contemporaries observed that he bore a strong resemblance to Sidney. The unfounded voices had probably originated from the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II and he had a younger sister Mary Crofts, who may also have been a daughter of Charles although Theobald Taaffe, 1st Earl of Carlingford is considered another potential father. Mary married the Irishman William Sarsfield and was a sister-in-law of the Jacobite general Patrick Sarsfield, as an illegitimate son, James was not eligible to succeed to the English or Scottish thrones, though there were rumours that Charles and Lucy did marry secretly. Monmouth later himself always claimed his parents were married and that he possessed their marriage lines, Charles, as King, later testified in writing to his Council that he had never been married to anyone except his queen, Catherine of Braganza. In March 1658, young James was kidnapped by one of the Kings men, sent to Paris and he briefly attended a school in Familly. On 20 April 1663, he was married to the heiress Anne Scott, James took his wifes surname upon marriage. The day after his marriage, the couple were made Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, Earl and Countess of Dalkeith, in 1665, at the age of 16, Monmouth served in the English fleet under his uncle the Duke of York in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In June 1666, he returned to England to become captain of a troop of cavalry, on 16 September 1668 he was made colonel of the His Majestys Own Troop of Horse Guards. He acquired Moor Park in Hertfordshire in April 1670, at the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672, a brigade of 6,000 English and Scottish troops was sent to serve as part of the French army, with Monmouth as its commander. He became Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire and Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull in April 1673, in the campaign of 1673 and in particular at the Siege of Maastricht in June 1673, Monmouth gained a considerable reputation as one of Britains finest soldiers. He was reported to be replacing Marshal Schomberg as commander of Englands Zealand Expedition, in March 1677 he also became Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire. Monmouth may have come to believe that his parents had been married. As his popularity with the masses increased Monmouth was obliged to go into exile in the Dutch United Provinces in September 1679. On King Charles IIs death in February 1685 Monmouth led the Monmouth Rebellion, Monmouth declared himself King at various places along the route including Axminster, Chard, Ilminster and Taunton. On 8 July 1685 Monmouth was captured and arrested near Ringwood in Hampshire, the events surrounding his capture are recorded in detail in Taits Edinburgh Magazine

8.
Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister
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Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn is a 3 volume roman à clef playing with events of the Monmouth Rebellion and exploring the genre of the epistolary novel. Behns novel is based loosely on an affair between Ford, Lord Grey of Werke, and his wifes sister, Lady Henrietta Berkeley, a scandal that broke in London in 1682. It was originally published as three volumes, Love-Letters Between a Noble-Man and his Sister, Love Letters From a Noble Man to his Sister. This part is a story of wooing and seduction of a woman, Silvia. Silvias and Philanders flight to Holland Silvia, disguised as a man with the name Fillmond. Brilljard, who has married to Silvia to save her from being married to another man by her parents. On their journey they meet a young Hollander, Octavio, quickly, a strong friendship develops between Philander and Octavio. Not knowing that Fillmond is in fact a woman, Octavio nevertheless falls in love with Silvia on their joint journey, there Philander and Silvia, still in disguise, spend a happy time together. Brilljard, staying with them, falls secretly in love with Silvia, when Silvia falls into a violent fever, her true sex is discovered by the servants and the whole truth of their story is revealed to Octavio by Philander. Philanders first response is that hed rather die than leave Silvia behind, also, he is scared that she might fall in love with someone else once he has left. Brilljards assault on Silvia Silvia, devastated by his flight, believes his love has worn off already when she receives her first letter from him, and indeed, Philander reveals in a letter to Octavio that he finds life without Silvia less painful than expected. Octavio seizes the opportunity and reveals his affection to Silvia, which she strongly dismisses. Silvia, in need for an opinion on Philanders letter, shows it to Brilljard. Silvia gets into such a state that she faints into his arms, Brilljard, overwhelmed by his feelings, almost rapes the defenceless Silvia, but for Octavios appearance. Octavio courts Silvia with the permission of Philander While Silvia is waiting for news from her Philander, Octavio is paying her regular visits. Silvia, though she turns him down as she is still in love with Philander, is enough to be flattered. Her sorrow is more and more overcome with anger, and she decides to take revenge, using Octavio as an instrument. Hoping that jealousy will bring Philander back to her at last, she talks Octavio into writing a letter to Philander in which he confesses his love for Silvia, asking him for his permission to do so

9.
Ihara Saikaku
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Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the floating world genre of Japanese prose. Later in life he began writing accounts of the financial and amorous affairs of the merchant class. These stories catered to the whims of the prominent merchant class, whose tastes of entertainment leaned toward the arts. Ihara Saikaku was born in 1642 into a merchant family in Osaka. From the age of fifteen he composed haikai no renga, in 1662 at the age of twenty he became a haikai master. Under the pen name Ihara Kakuei, he began to establish himself as a popular haikai poet, by 1670 he had developed his own distinctive style, using colloquial language to depict contemporary chōnin life. During this time he owned and ran a business in Osaka. In 1673 he changed his pen name to Saikaku, however, the death of his dearly beloved wife in 1675 had an extremely profound impact on him. A few days after her death, in an act of grief and true love, when this work was published it was called Haikai Single Day Thousand Verse. It was the first time that Saikaku had attempted to compose such a piece of literature. The overall experience and success that Saikaku received from composing such a mammoth exercise has been credited with sparking the writers interest in writing novels and he started his travels after the death of his blind daughter. In 1677 Saikaku returned to Osaka and had learnt of the success his thousand-verse haikai poem had received, from then on he pursued a career as a professional writer. Initially Saikaku continued to produce poetry, but by 1682 he had published The Life of an Amorous Man. As Saikaku’s popularity and readership began to increase and expand across Japan, when he died in 1693, at the age of fifty-one, Saikaku was one of the most popular writers of the entire Tokugawa period. At the time his work was never considered high literature because it had been aimed towards, nevertheless, Saikakus work is now celebrated for its significance in the development of Japanese fiction. All act as one who steps on dog dung in the dark

10.
Thomas d'Urfey
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Thomas DUrfey was an English writer and wit. He composed plays, songs, and poetry, in addition to writing jokes and he was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the Ballad opera. DUrfey was born in Devonshire and began his life as a scrivener. DUrfey lived in an age of self-conscious elitism and anti-egalitarianism, a reaction against the tendencies of the previous Puritan reign during the Interregnum. He wrote 500 songs, and 32 plays, starting with The Siege of Memphis in 1676 and his first play was a failure, but he responded in the following year with a comedy, Madame Fickle, which proved more successful. His plays include The Fond Husband, The Virtuous Wife, and Wonders in the Sun, or, in 1698 he wrote The Campaigners as a reply and satire of Jeremy Colliers anti-theatrical scourges. His multi-volume Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy and his play The Injured Princess is an adaptation of Shakespeares Cymbeline. Durfey wrote widely in a witty, satirical vein, usually from a point of view. His songs generally fell into three types, court songs, political songs, and country songs—the latter tending to be more than a little bawdy, over forty different composers set his lyrics to music, including Henry Purcell. Purcell composed music for DUrfeys play The Comical History of Don Quixote, DUrfey wrote tunes himself as well, though even he admitted that they were not very good. Many of the lyrics in Wit and Mirth are preceded by their melodies written in musical notation. DUrfey was a friend of the great essayists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele and he wrote parodies, and was parodied in return. He stuttered slightly—except, it was said, when he sang or swore, at one point in his career, a jealous rival would respond to DUrfeys play Love for Money with a parody called Wit for Money, or, Poet Stutterer. He was buried on the day of his death at the church of St Jamess. His lasting achievement lay in his best songs,10 of the 68 songs in The Beggars Opera were DUrfeys, all animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. Cyrus Lawrence Day, The Songs of Thomas DUrfey, Volume IX, Harvard Studies in English, Cambridge, Thomas DUrfey, Lewd Songs and Low Ballads of the Eighteenth Century, Bawdy Songs From Thomas Durfeys Pills to Purge Melancholy, Boulder, Colorado, Bartholomew Press,1991. Free scores by Thomas dUrfey at the International Music Score Library Project